Minutes – Planning and Conservation Committee (Special Meeting) – 27 July 2023

The agenda and papers for this meeting are available here: Planning and Conservation Committee – 27 July 2023 – agenda and papers (Special Meeting)

The minutes of this meeting are presented below.

You can also download a PDF copy of the minutes here: Minutes – Planning and Conservation Committee (Special Meeting) – 27 July 2023

PLANNING AND CONSERVATION COMMITTEE

SPECIAL MEETING

Minutes

Date: 27 July 2023

Time: 3.30pm to 5.01pm

Location: The Council Chamber – The Council House • North Street • CHICHESTER • West Sussex • PO19 1LQ

PRESENT: Councillors Butler (Chairman), Chant, Hitchman and Squire

EX-OFFICIO: The Mayor (Councillor C Gershater), Deputy Mayor (Councillor Corfield), Chairman of the Community Affairs Committee (Councillor Apel) and Chairman of the Finance Committee (Councillor Scicluna)

ALSO IN ATTENDANCE: Town Clerk, Deputy Town Clerk, Planning Adviser, Mr Ash Pal (Chairman of the Chichester Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group), Mr Richard Eastham (Feria Urbanism), Chichester District Councillor Bill Brisbane and seven members of the public.

IN ATTENDANCE VIA ZOOM: Councillor Vivian and West Sussex County Councillor Simon Oakley

33. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

RESOLVED to receive and approve apologies and reasons for absence from the meeting from Councillor Vivian who attended via Zoom from 3.33pm.

34. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST BY MEMBERS OF THE COMMITTEE IN MATTERS ON THE AGENDA FOR THIS MEETING

Councillor Apel declared an interest as a Member of Chichester District Council.

Councillor Scicluna declared an interest as Chairman of the Whyke Residents’ Association.

35. UPDATE ON CHICHESTER DISTRICT COUNCIL REGENERATION PLAN

The Chairman advised that this would be discussed under agenda item 5.

36. COMMUNITY HIGHWAYS SCHEME – BOGNOR ROAD

A representation was made on behalf of the Whyke Residents Association outlining the community safety issues in the area and requesting that an enhanced scheme was designed.

The Planning Adviser clarified that the City Council were being asked to write in support of the scheme as currently proposed.
A number of members of the public added their comments supporting the scheme on the basis that it was the best design that could be achieved within the constraints imposed by West Sussex County Council’s (WSCC) Highways department.

It was proposed from the Chair, seconded by the Deputy Mayor and RESOLVED to write to WSCC strongly supporting the scheme and requesting that all options, including a full crossing, are considered.

It was further RESOLVED to ask West Sussex County Councillor Sharp to send a letter outlining the level of CIL funds required from the City Council for the scheme once it had been agreed, for a future decision by the Finance Committee.

37. NEIGHBOURHOOD PLAN

a) Update from the Planning Adviser

The Planning Adviser summarised her report, which had been circulated with the agenda, and highlighted her advice that a procurement process be started to appoint a contractor to support the Steering Group and the Council in the development of the Neighbourhood Plan (NP).

Members noted that no contractor was currently in place following Feria Urbanism cancelling their agreement in March 2022 to provide full planning support for the Neighbourhood Plan to submission stage.

b) Update from the Chairman of the Chichester Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group

The Chairman of the Steering Group explained that there had been a considerable amount of work completed on the NP.
He also explained that he wanted to reassure the Committee that the work was being progressed professionally and competently and that it was already delivering benefits to the Council and the wider community. He emphasised the strength of the working relationship with Feria Urbanism.

c) Update from Feria Urbanism

Mr Richard Eastham from Feria Urbanism gave a brief overview of the work that they have completed so far and expressed the company’s desire to continue working on the development of the Chichester NP.

He expressed the opinion that the process of developing the plan needed to be bold and exciting in order to bring together a community consensus.

He further expressed the opinion that their experience on other plans indicated that the Chichester plan was in a good place and could still progress but in order to succeed the Steering Group would need the full support of the City Council during the development of the plan.

d) Update from Chichester District Councillor Bill Brisbane (deferred from agenda item 3)

Councillor Brisbane advised that Chichester District Council (CDC) were keen to support the City Council in delivering the NP and ensuring that it was completed.

He advised that CDC had agreed to appoint a regeneration consultant to consider the future Vision for the City and that the City Council would be key partners in this process.

Members heard that the hope was that the NP vision for the city and the regeneration strategy Vision would align closely and would overlap as they developed.

The Committee was advised that completion of the NP would necessarily follow on after the adoption of the Local Plan due to timing issues and that site viability assessments would work in tandem between the two.

Members were further advised that CDC still hoped that the City Council would allocate the remaining 280 homes to be delivered within the parish boundaries.

Following a wide-ranging discussion, Mr Eastham advised that the critical milestones in NP project’s delivery would be the 6-week pre-consultation window where the community could comment on the first draft of the plan, consideration of the feedback and incorporation into a revised plan and submission to CDC for a second consultation before inspection and the referendum.

Further discussions then followed about the required work and risks to delivery.

The Chairman thanked the speakers for their time in making representations.

38. PUBLIC BODIES (ADMISSION TO MEETINGS) ACT 1960

It was proposed by Councillor Scicluna, seconded by the Mayor and RESOLVED that the press and public be excluded from the meeting due to the nature of the business to be transacted, namely confidential business matters.

39. NEIGHBOURHOOD PLAN

After a discussion by the Committee, it was proposed by Councillor Scicluna, seconded by the Mayor and RECOMMENDED to the Special Meeting of the City Council on Monday 31 July 2023 to proceed, in line with the City Council’s Financial Regulations, with issuing the draft project brief and to call for tenders via the Government’s Contracts Finder service for a planning consultant to assist with the preparation of the Neighbourhood Plan.

It was further proposed by Councillor Butler, seconded by the Mayor and RESOLVED to form a panel comprised of Councillors Scicluna, C Gershater and Butler, together with the Planning Adviser, to form a tender review panel to make a recommendation to the Finance Committee on the final contractor selection. It was agreed that additional Officer support would be arranged as appropriate and as required.

The meeting closed at 5.01pm

DATE OF THE NEXT ORDINARY MEETING: 17 AUGUST 2023